Recently we
had to update my wife’s mobile phone to a newer model. Over a coffee she
started down the path of setting things up. At one point she went into the WiFi
settings. A very long list of available WiFi connections appeared on her
screen. And a long enough list it was too!
Not all of
the networks in the list were free to join. They belonged to the shops
surrounding us. But what if they were free? This question buzzed around in my
head for a while, and what struck me was the similarity to the world we live
in. Our first world problem: we are saturated by choice. I choose this one
because I like that product, I like the ad, I like the look of the people who
advertise it …. And on it goes.
It is a case
of which voice gets your attention, which voice is the most attractive to you?
The Book of Proverbs
begins with an exhortation: Read these words, these “proverbs,” to know wisdom
and instruction in order to achieve understanding. The use of the word “wisdom”
– chokmah - suggests a knowledge that
has not yet been attained. Something that can be known but isn’t yet. Something
that requires a certain level of skill and wits to come to understand.
There is a
promise here but it needs to be taken up, a promise of stepping beyond the
right here right now to find out something you might not know. Something that
might just make a difference in your life.
Yet, there
is a work involved, an energy expenditure. Something is required of you.
In Job 12:12
we learn that “wisdom” is something found “among (or with) the aged.” It is
something that we get through life experience. Note that is only through long
life that understanding is achieved. Wisdom is not something afforded to the
young.
However,
Solomon, having been given this gift by God Himself, wants to share with all
who will listen. All who have ears to hear. (See Matthew 11:15) What this
transaction is giving you is nothing less than Solomon’s testimony of God’s
Witness in his life.
Note in v2
the word “instruction.” The word used is musar.
There is an element here of chastisement, of correction, of discipline. It
would seem that Solomon recognizes that there is wrong thinking in the heads of
the “naive,” of “the youth” to whom he wishes to give “knowledge and
discretion.” (v4) Solomon is very much aware that he knows more than the people
he is speaking to!
Clearly he
has a wisdom to share with the younger generations that would help them avoid
some of the pitfalls of life. In 2 Chronicles 1:10 we read Solomon’s request of
The LORD: “Give me wisdom and knowledge, that
I may lead this people, for who is able to govern this great people of yours?” Solomon,
is asking for something only God can give, that he be gifted with the knowledge
and wisdom required to lead God’s people. Solomon is wise enough to recognize that
he can’t do it on his own understanding. Something he declares in Proverbs
3:5-6.
But for us
as post-modern consumers this presents somewhat of a dilemma. I don’t have the
depth of wisdom and experience Solomon had, too often I lean on my own understanding.
Too often my inner voice is saying “I am not interested.” This vendor over here
has something way more attractive, something that is going to give me the quick
fix. Something that will make me feel better about who and what I am … at least
for a little while.
Turn to Proverbs
1:10. What happens? The young man Solomon is addressing is being enticed by
sinners – and by inference the sin they are engaged in.
“Do not
consent…” he tells him. The Hebrew word here is “abah.” It involves a choice: to obey, to yield, to allow, to want,
to accept, or to refuse. To turn away from. To buy the other product. To join
the other WiFi network. To listen to the other voice.
Here we have
the key we need. Solomon knows which voice we should be listening to! He tells
us quite plainly in Ecclesiastes. All though life’s trials and toil our meaning
comes only through the Word of God, only through our relationship with The LORD. That’s the only
place it can come from.
Solomon has
seen and felt what it is like to live in a fallen world, a world where sin too
often holds sway, where our decisions, our choices, our consent are influenced
by those thoughts and ideas that work against God’s great love for us. Those
thoughts and ideas from which Christ can free us. If we turn to Him, and
consent, yield, choose to obey, pick up His awesome Gift of Grace, Mercy and Forgiveness.
Buy into God’s eternal lovingkindness…
So, which
WiFi channel will you join?